DC: 2011-08-10 - Planet-Killers and Reconciliation
Kara Zor-El is in the lab, looking through the telescope and taking some notes as she does. She walks over to the blackboard and starts writing more of an insanely complicated-looking equation on the board. She sighs a bit. "Great. Just great." She heads back to the telescope and starts to readjust the angle a bit. "Need to really improve this thing" she says, looking at the telescope. She floats up and peers up into the night sky without the telescope instead. Robin makes his way to the lab, having some 'homework' he brought with him from Gotham. Evidence that needs processed and analyzed so it can be added to Batman's database. He sees Kara, and lets himself be known by a soft clearing of his throat, "Hi Kara." he says, his voice a little more like Tim right now and a little less Robin. Kara Zor-El looks back at Robin, then floats back down to the blackboard and writes some more on it. "Robin." Robin hmms. "Still mad at me." he observes, and goes to the tools he needs and begins working. "Fine, then." he says, his tone measured and neutral now. Kara Zor-El writes more on the board. "I'm not mad." she says simply. Robin cocks a single eyebrow, "No? Your body language - tension, eye contact, tone of voice? They all say otherwise." he might not be able to hear a heartbeat or detect such a subtle change in respiration as Kara, but he has his own tricks. "If you're not mad, then what?" Kara Zor-El shrugs. "99942 Apophis. Making sure this planet won't be destroyed in 25 years." She looks back at Robin, "And what good would it do to be mad at you. It's not like you'd care anyway." She goes back to writing on the blackboard, and erasing some other stuff on the still lengthening equation. Robin shakes his head, "How do you know that?" he says, walking over to where you're at, "You barely know anything about me." he says flatly, "You think because I can't answer your question that I don't care, that I'm this horrible person. The only thing I'm guilty of being is human." Kara Zor-El shakes her head. "You're not a horrible person for not making a decision. It was because you want to keep me waiting for an undetermined period of time. The uncertainty was depressing. In any case, I'm over it. I shouldn't have assumed anyway, and Stephanie's a really nice person. But you're right. I barely know anything about you." Kara Zor-El flies up to peer into space again. "I think I was just enamoured with the idea that someone cared about me that way that wasnt my cousin or his parents." Robin sighs, "Kara, I do care about you. I didn't /want/ to keep you waiting for an undertermined length of time, but what you asked of me is something that isn't so easily answered as an equation or history fact. I don't know how Kryptonians think and feel, but humans..especially when it comes to matters of the heart..do not reach answers like that so quickly. Certainly, it's more than a yes or a no response. There's so much that comes into play." he pauses, "..and when it comes into situation like I'm in with you and Stephanie. It makes it even harder to figure out." his tone is sincere, "I'm sorry if I hurt you, Kara. I didn't mean to do that. What I wanted to do was show you that it doesn't have to be so lonely here..that you can have friends, that you can be around people your own age and make a difference." Kara Zor-El lands back on the ground again, frowning at the blackboard. Or you. It's hard to tell. "Kryptonians think and feel the same way. Pretty sure an Earth girl would have felt just as bad. But like I said, it's okay. You obviously love Stephanie, which I can understand now that I've thought about it. Me, you hardly know. Rao, I hardly know myself. What you were feeling to me was probably more of a purely physical attraction just. Of course I'm lonely, but I'm fine with being friends, or just teammates even. By the way, 99942 Apophis looks like it might hit." Robin looks at you, "Someone who was used to being here, be they Kryptonian or Human, would've understood what I was trying to do and not thought I was trying to take advantage of them or..as you put it..used them as a placeholder. That's the last thing I was trying to do." he shrugs, and leans against a work table, "I was lonely, and I conneted with someone very special and I will always have a special place in my heart for you. I think the whole circumstance caused me to become confused by my heart and my emotions clouded my judgement and what the right the thing to do should've been." he walks over, "I hope you will forgive me for that. I'm very, very sorry." he pauses, "Apophis has twenty five years. It can wait a few minutes." he says softly. Kara Zor-El looks at Robin. "Yeah that's what they said about Krypton.... there's time." She sighs a bit "Please take that off." She reaches to take off the domino mask, then looks at you. "Did you even bother asking Stephanie about the choice you were deciding to make?" She brushes her hair over her ear "Look, I forgive you, honest. A few days with me versus months with her. I jumped the gun because I read more into it than there was." She smiles. "Guess Batman was right, huh. Bad idea because I'd get hurt." She hangs her head. "I shouldnt read so much into it." Robin does as he's asked, and looks into your eyes with his own. "I did. as a matter of fact, she told me if I wanted to date you I could have her blessing on it." he says "But even though it'd been months literally since we talked, her heart wasn't in that. Neither was mine. I wanted to know what she wanted to do..how she felt." he pauses shrugging a little, "We talked about it, what we both wanted and how we wanted to approach things." Kara Zor-El nods a little. "What do you mean by 'neither was yours'" She pauses. "I don't get that. And it's not because I'm Kryptonian. It just doesn't make sense. If she's okay with it...." She shrugs. "I think I just go about making more impulsive decisions probably. "you know... no sense in waiting until tomorrow since it might not be there. It's a moot point anyway. I'm okay." She bites her lip. "I'm okay. Let me know what you decide to do with Stephanie, but I can't wait on it - it hurts a lot and yeah, I'm going to feel like I'm the 'just in case' girl. I will get hurt, and I think I've lost more than enough in the last year that I shouldnt go looking for more problems. I'm pretty sure you'd pick her, or when she gave her blessing, you would have taken it. Cassie doesnt understand this because she's your friend." She shrugs again. "I'm okay" she says again, like a mantra or something at this point. "I'm even thinking of just going to college instead." Robin shakes his head, "It's not that you're a just in case girl. I would never do that." he thinks, how to explain his feelings, "I feel like after what Stephanie and I have been through over the better part of the last year, I can't just call it off and then constantly question myself with 'What If' for the next several years..if not longer." takes a deep breath, "I want to see if there's anything /really/ there." he explains, "It's not that I do or don't love her..that's an extremely heavy word to throw out anyway." he says, "But I deserve to be able to find out." Kara Zor-El pauses. "Tim, by definition, that does make me the 'just in case' girl. You're just keeping on framing this with your feelings and Stephanie's feelings, which is fine. But my feelings do not come into it at all, except to tell me you're sorry." She pauses. "Again, that's fine. But I have some 'what if's' that I'm going to be wondering as well. Like 'What if' I'm so busy waiting for you to decide that I put my life on hold, and my life has not been in my own control at all. Ever, it seems. On Krypton, it was my parents. Even with my getting in the ship, it wasn't my choice. On Earth, it was Kal. Then Batman. Then Diana. Then Darkseid. Then Luthor. I'm almost never in control with where I'm going with my life. I don't want to do that with my almost non-existent social life as well." Robin blinks, "Kara..when did I ever ask you to wait for me. I would never expect that, nor wold I ask it. If it works out that we can be together, that's wonderful! But if you find a guy that makes you happy and is worthy of you -- by all means, go after that person!! You say I don't care about your feelings, and I do -- all I'm trying to do is explain mine, and where I'm coming from. The truth is, I care. I want to see you happy!!" he says, "And whatever you have to do to get there, then I'm all for it." Kara Zor-El shrugs a little. "You made me care about you and think you'd want to be with me. That was reason enough to wait." She thinks for a moment. "I'm not happy. I'm not normal, I don't feel normal, I feel overwhelmed by everything and I thought it would feel better with someone like you because you understood about the same pressure to be responsible for all this ... stuff." Robin looks you in the eyes, "Kara, I still do. That much hasn't changed." he says sincerely. Kara Zor-El looks back at you. "A couple of days ago, you acted like it was no big deal, and I didnt hear anything in your voice to make me think you did care about it." Kara Zor-El fidgets. "I'm... not as good at hiding how I feel about things as you are. Or making it seem like I don't care when I do." She lets out a breath. "What if you just tell me what you want me to do?" Robin rolls his eyes a little, "Kara, you had a complete stranger in tow..you're lucky I even talked about it with him standing right there." he sighs softly, "I have to keep my emotions in check more often than not. It's how I was trained. If I let my emotions cloud my judgement, people can die." he says, his voice grave, "I don't know why you think I know what you should do anymore than you, Kara. If you want help, guidance, that's one thing..but I can't take out and out tell you what to do." Kara Zor-El tilts her head. "No one's life was in danger when I came into the gym." She waves her hands a bit. "It's a moot point. You'll decide whenever you decide. I'm just still sad it will never be like I thought it was going to be when we first met. I'll get over it." Robin nods quietly, "It won't be like it will be when we first met. But then..that doesn't mean it can't be better. It will just be different." he says. Kara Zor-El puts her hands in her pockets. "I don't see how it will be better." She walks over ot the workbench and puts her hands near her hip. A small hole - a dimensional pocket - opens up, and Kara takes out a cell phone from it. "By the way, I made a phone if you want to talk to me without using that communicator Batman gave me." The hole in space closes after the phone is removed. Robin nods to Kara, "Thanks Kara, I'd like to be able to get hold of you like that." a beat pause then continues, "Is there anything I can say or do that's gonna make you feel better or are you just going to come up with a counter for anything I try to say to help so you have a reason to feel crappy?" he asks, point blank. "Because I'm really trying here." Kara Zor-El writes out a number 999-787-7475. "That's the number I programmed in. And I'm not coming up with counters. I'm just being honest. You don't have to be mean and say I'm making up stuff. Nothing I said to you was made up. That doesn't seem like you trying. Seems more like trying to alleviate guilt. Don't feel guilty, we'll just be friends or teammates." 999-787-7475 = 999-SUPR-GRL Kara Zor-El takes the phone. "By the way, the phone can be contacted no matter where I am on earth so... that's good, no roaming charges. Also works with CBs and radio frequencies." She puts it back in its pocket dimension on her hip. Robin smiles, "Good to know." he glances at where you put it, "What's that?" he asks, slipping the piece of paper into a secure spot on his belt so he can program it into his own encrypted comm later. Kara Zor-El looks at herself. "What's what?" Kara Zor-El looks. "Oh.. ohhh that. I built a small pocket dimension portal. It's being maintained about 2 inches from my left hip. You know... so the phone doesn't break. Upper level sound frequencies can pass through though so I can hear it ring with my hearing." Robin shakes his head, "And how does one build a small pocket dimension portal?" he sounds, not skeptical, but definitely questioning. Kara Zor-El pauses. "Um.. it's not that hard actually. You just need to.... " she proceeds to try to explain about opening a concentrated micro-singularity in space using super-dense materials, then fixing near a particular floating point, such as her hip, or in a particular fixed point in space. There's some mention of neutrinos as well and fusion. "And then all that's needed is a power source to keep the opening from shutting completely - it just needs to be about a quark's length in diameter and won't open until certain pre-coded items pass through that quark. Fortunately the range is pretty large ... around 385,000 kilometers.... so about lunar orbit. See? Easy." Robin nods, "I see..so basically it's a D-I-Y wormhole suspended within a neutrino matrix?" he asks, wrapping his brain around the complex science. Kara Zor-El pauses, trying to determine if the pseudo-science statement made by Robin comes close... then nods a little. "Not quite but ... similar actually. It's not exactly a wormhole. But really close. Simple stuff like this is what eventually led to Kryptonians developing a means of accessing larger dimensional rifts like the Phantom Zone. Most are really small though. I guess it's actually a misnomer to call it a 'dimension' though. Technically there are only 11 dimensions. And this isnt any of those dimensions. It's more of a .... an alternate plane. Like mini universes, I guess. Pocket dimension sounds cooler." Robin ponders this, "I see. Either way, it's still pretty cool. It'd be pretty cool to use, I imagine." he says, "Never have to worry about losing your phone, anyway." he quips. "Or your house. Or your car. Or your city.." Kara Zor-El shakes her head. "oh this one's not big enough for any of those things. Plus even if I could make the pocket dimension that big, assuming I had a large enough power source, there's no oxygen in there. It took a long time before Kryptonian science found any alternate plains that could sustain life." She thinks then smiles a bit. "But yeah... at least I don't have to worry about the phone breaking." Robin smiles, and looks at you, and asks "Now see, was that so hard?" Kara Zor-El looks confused. "Was what so hard?" Robin keeps smiling as he looks at you, "Smiling, silly." Kara Zor-El smiles a bit more. "Excruciating." Robin tries to not laugh, "You sure? It seems to be happening all over your face now." Kara Zor-El keeps smiling. "Stop it. I'm supposed to be all moody and passively aggressive." Robin cocks an eyebrow, "And who says that? The best part about being who you are is that you can buck the trend." Kara Zor-El pauses. "We're going to hug, arent we?" Robin hmms, "Well, unless you mistake it for sparring session and judo throw me through a wall? Which might be frowned upon, since we're in a lab." Kara Zor-El smiles. "I don't know judo, I know kuklor. And some Amazonian fighting styles. Annd.... some other stuff. But yeah... it would be needlessly messy." She taps her foot. Robin nods, "right." and then abruptly moves in and gives you a long, warm hug. Kara Zor-El hugs back. Kara Zor-El asks, while hugging, "Is now a bad time to remind about the possible extinction-level event in 25 years?" Robin shakes his head, "It might be a bit of a buzzkill, but you can do something about it, Kara Zor-El nods a little. "I'm just making sure of the timing so that I'd be able to deflect or destroy it when it's this far away." She points to part of the equation. "I really don't want to lose another planet. 25 years isnt very long." Robin nods, "I know, but it's long enough to do something about it."